Kingston City Court judge charged in custody dispute

KINGSTON >> City Court Judge Lawrence Ball has been charged in Kingston City Court in a custody dispute with his estranged wife Sixth Ward Alderwoman Elisa Ball, according to a complaint filed in Kingston City Court on Aug. 6.

The complaint alleges that on Aug. 6 at about 4 p.m. Judge Ball “did intentionally and knowingly commit the misdemeanor of criminal contempt.” It was signed by a city police lieutenant, filed in Kingston City Court and then transferred to and received by the Hudson City Court on Aug. 14,

According to Alderwoman Ball’s complaint, Judge Ball picked up the couple’s three children, Connor, Parker and Turner, on Aug. 6 without her permission and in violation of a state Supreme Court order giving the alderwoman custody of the children during summer break.

The Balls are in the process of divorcing, according to Ulster County Clerk Nina Postupak, who confirmed that their divorce papers are on file in her office.

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Hudson City Court Clerk Rosemary Zukowski said the Judge Ball was not arraigned in Hudson. She said a court date will not be set “until we figure out the logistics of who’s prosecuting the case we can’t calendar the case,” she said.

An Ulster County Court clerk declined to comment and referred calls to the state Office of Court Administration.

Asked whether Judge Ball will be removed from the bench as a result of the arrest, David Bookstaver of the state Office of Court Administration, said “This may be a matter for the [state] Commission on Judicial Conduct.”

Commission spokeswoman Marisa Harrison said proceedings of the commission are confidential and she “can not confirm, deny or comment” unless and until a judge is disciplined, admonished, censored or removed by a state Court of Appeals after a recommendation by the Commission.

City Court Chief Clerk Tricia Berardi said Judge Ball would not comment on his arrest because it is “ethically not good to speak whether he’s the judge or defendant.”

Alderwoman Ball did not return calls to her home on Thursday.

A call to city Police Chief Chief Egidio Tinti regarding the arrest was not returned Thursday.

About the Author

Diane Pineiro-Zucker has been a reporter at the Daily Freeman since April 2013.
Pineiro-Zucker worked as a reporter in the Freeman’s Rhinebeck bureau in the early 1980s, left to become executive editor at Taconic Newspapers in Dutchess County, and returned to the Freeman in 2010 as a copy editor. Reach the author at dpzucker@freemanonline.com
or follow Diane on Twitter: @DianeAtFreeman.